STATEMENT ON BACKHANDED POLITICAL MOVES IN COSTA MESA; REMOVING FOLEY AS MAYOR FOR NO LEGITIMATE REASON

STATEMENT ON BACKHANDED POLITICAL MOVES IN COSTA MESA; REMOVING FOLEY AS MAYOR FOR NO LEGITIMATE REASON ||

On November 7th, 2017 Board Member Cory Hodges attended the Costa Mesa City Council meeting to voice concerns over a controversial agenda item listed for the evening. Councilman Jim Righeimer made a late-night addition to the agenda the evening before. The agenda item was to replace Katrina Foley as mayor of Costa Mesa. There was no stated reason for the move, and it was a classic case of placing politics over policy–from what we can gather, Righeimer simply does not want Democrat Foley as the mayor.

Many, many residents spoke out against the undemocratic move. For about an hour and a half preceding the vote to remove Foley as mayor, a steady stream of residents offered almost universal praise for Foley, characterizing her as a strong and effective leader who has always represented Costa Mesa well. Cory lent his voice to this chorus, stating that OCYD supports Mayor Foley, and that the organization unequivocally disagreed with removing her as mayor. Unfortunately, petty politics won the day. Although we are very disappointed by the result, we hope to work with Councilwoman Foley to effectuate change in the City on a range of important issues.